Changing the Rule? A re-reading of conflict on Iona in 1204

Two events on Iona in the early thirteenth century – a papal bull in 1203 and a raid by Irish churchmen in 1204 – have conventionally been interpreted as signalling that a formerly ‘Celtic’ monastery became Benedictine in 1203. The raid has been seen as an attempt to reverse this change because of the supposed opposition between the two traditions. This article challenges these views, arguing that (1) no inherent conflict existed between Celtic and Benedictine monasticism, (2) the 1203 papal bull did not establish a new Benedictine foundation, (3) Iona may already have been Benedictine in some sense for a century, and (4) the raiding Irish churchmen were Augustinians, not defenders of ‘Celtic’ monasticism. Instead, the raid was driven by ecclesiastical and political rivalries between Derry and Iona, reflecting the competing interests of the Mac Lochlainn kings in Ireland and Ragnall son of Somerled, king of the Hebrides.